Sunday is Air Defense Forces Day, the professional holiday of Russia’s ground-based air defense troops. On the occasion, Lt. Gen Aytech Bizhev, the former deputy commander of the Commonwealth of Independent States’ integrated air defense system, told Sputnik what makes Russia’s multilayered air defense network unique in the world.
Russia shares Air Defense Forces Day with several post-Soviet republics, including Belarus, with the holiday, marked annually on the second Sunday of April, dating back to 1975, and formally reestablished in Russia by presidential decree in 2006.
This year, with the Russian military remaining engaged in operations against NATO-backed and armed forces in Ukraine, Air Defense Forces Day carries a special significance. With Kiev receiving more and more of the latest tactical, medium, and long-range strike systems from NATO’s arsenals, timely and effective air defenses in Donbass, along the 1,000 km front and throughout western Russia has become an absolute priority.
The Air Defense Troops have been involved in the conflict in Ukraine from its outset, the commander stressed, pointing to the round-the-clock deployment of air defense troops in the combat zone and along the border area, and the strengthening of defenses through new formations responsible for air defense over Donetsk, Lugansk, Melitopol, and Berdyansk – which have faced particularly intense air, missile, drone, and artillery shelling attacks by Ukrainian forces.
“The enemy is using new means to conduct armed struggle. The latest developments in weaponry supplied by Western countries require us to take certain measures. In this regard, weapons and equipment are being constantly refined and improved to increase the combat capabilities to fight modern strike weapons used by the enemy,” Semyonov said, adding that the air defense troops are “working closely” with the defense sector to upgrade their systems, and develop “truly unique equipment superior to Western analogues for many years to come.”
Russian Air Defenses Chew Through Everything NATO Throws At Them
“Since February 24, 2022, air defense systems in the special military operation zone have been carrying out the highly specific task of repelling attacks from aerospace weaponry. Our air defense systems have had the privilege of destroying and repelling modern means of aerospace attack, including everything in the arsenal of NATO countries,” former Commonwealth of Independent States Integrated Air Defense System deputy commander Aytech Bizhev said.
“Air defense crews have successfully mastered the destruction of HIMARS, ATACMS, and other high-precision weaponry that the West once propagated as being immune to Russian air defense systems,” Bizhev said.
This has been possible not only thanks to the high-tech equipment available to the air defense forces, but the unique, echeloned, “multilayer” approach of Russia’s air defense strategy, according to the former commander.
The capabilities and approach of Russian and Ukrainian air defenses are a case in point, Bizhev noted, saying the “strategy” pursued by each side provides important conclusions about the viability of each.
“Firstly, all of our complexes are integrated into a single automated system. They are integrated and use a single, unified information field, common capabilities, and under a common leadership,” Bizhev explained.
In the case of Ukraine, air defenses are limited to the local level. “Their [unified] radar field has been completely lost, and the automated control system has been lost. Their air defenses act locally: what they see, they shoot down. That is, there is no centralized leadership here, like we have with a central command post,” the veteran air defense commander added.
Invaluable Experience Dating Back to WWII
Bizhev says Russia’s air defense forces’ modern capabilities are rooted in the country’s vast historical experience, starting with the defense of Moscow, Leningrad and other cities during the Second World War, and the immense tactical, strategic and technical knowledge gained over the course of the following decades during the Cold War.
“The USSR provided assistance to fraternal countries, including military and technical assistance to Arab countries. Our air defense systems were purchased by these countries – half the world acquired our air defense systems. We took part in conflicts in Vietnam and the Middle East, which provided our air defense crews and commanders enormous experience. Equipment was tested in the hot climates of the Middle East and the humid climates of Vietnam, Korea and so on. Our air defense school is unlike that of any other country in the world. Western countries, including the United States, never paid such close attention to air defenses. Why? Because they are situated on a separate continent beyond the seas and oceans. They thought it was too difficult for enemies to reach them at distances of 10,000 km,” Bizhev said.
Accordingly, even with the advent of anti-ICBM missile defenses, the US never attained a Soviet/Russian-style capability of deeply echeloned, automated and multilayered air defenses, radar coverage, etc., the observer stressed. “Our country is the successor to the Soviet Union in the field of air defense. No country has the resources we do in this area,” Bizhev said.
But an air defense system would be nothing without projectiles capable of shooting down enemy air and missile targets. For these purposes, Russia has an array of systems in its arsenal, including legacy Soviet equipment, newer designs and deep modernization work to improve existing systems, including but not limited to:
- The Tor – a series of short-range, mobile, tracked missile systems whose missiles have an operational range of up to 16 km, and which can detect up to 48 targets and track ten simultaneously.
TOR-M2U missile system operating at the Alabino range in the Moscow region. File photo. - The Pantsir – a mobile, self-propelled combined short-to-medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system whose missiles can attack targets at a range of up to 20 km, and detect them up to 75 km away.
A Pantsir-S surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system and a S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft system during combat duty drills of a surface-to-air missile regiment in the Moscow region - The Buk – another series of self-propelled, tracked medium-range SAM systems with the ability to detect enemy aircraft at a range of up to 140 km, and to engage them up to 42 km away (and missiles at ranges up to 20 km). The Buk’s capabilities against NATO equipment were demonstrated in Syria in 2018, when the system destroyed more than 85 percent of all US Tomahawk cruise missiles launched into the country.
Russian Armed Forces Buk-M3 anti-aircraft missile system operating in the Kharkov area of the special military operation in Ukraine. - The S-300 – a series of long-range surface to air missile systems first rolled out in the late 1970s, but upgraded regularly and widely considered to be among the most effective air defense systems in the world today. The S-300 can be equipped with missiles with a range of up to 400 km, and can simultaneously engage up to 24 aircraft of 16 ballistic or maneuvering missile targets. A modification of the system known as the S-350 Vityaz, introduced in 2019, provides medium-range defense coverage up to 120 km against aircraft, or 30 km against missiles.
Russian S-300 missile system seen working in the Kharkov area. File photo. - The S-400 and S-500 – comprehensive upgrades to the S-300 series of long-range air defense systems, with a maximum target range of up to 400 and 600 km, respectively, and, in the case of the S-500 – the ability to target satellites in space.
A view shows S-400 Triumf missile defence systems at the Russian Northern Fleet's base of Gadzhiyevo in the Murmansk region, Russia
S-500 missile system
“All crews of the air defense troops have passed through the special operation,” Bizhev said, “from the Pantsir anti-aircraft missile to all available means and crews of short, medium and long-range systems.”
Eurasian Air Defense
In addition to protecting its own airspace, Russia’s ground-based air defense forces assist in the protection of neighboring countries via the Joint CIS Air Defense System, which along with Russia includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia, and provides the Eurasian region with credible defenses against aerial attack.
“The CIS air defense system was created more than 30 years ago. It is operating successfully, being improved, rearmed, and operates as a single information field, under the unified command of the Central Command Post of the Aerospace Forces. Crews are trained at our training grounds, CIS air defense officers graduate from our academies, our military schools. We conduct joint exercises. We speak and study in the same language, using the same equipment and textbooks, in the same classes. Therefore, mutual comprehension and understand has reached total efficiency,” Bizhev said.
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